Coffee: Last Word on Omaha

Jack Coffee | CardinalSports.com Publisher

My last word on the College World Series....

It was unfortunate that the Cards couldn't put it together for the CWS for the second straight year. Those of us that follow UofL baseball know the 2014 team was good enough to win the whole thing. Now it's "wait 'til next year". With most of the key starting pitchers returning and a stellar recruiting class coming in Louisville should be strong again in 2015.

But there are a couple of problems with the College World Series in my opinion.

The first has to do with the lack of home runs in Omaha. Baseball without home runs is like basketball without the 3-point shot or football without the long touchdown pass. I know it wasn't the intent, but the NCAA has conspired to eliminate the long ball from college baseball, especially in Omaha.

Deadening the bats was an attempt to bring speed and skill back into the game with an eye toward safety. But with the long fences and 25-mph winds in Omaha home runs are as rare as a Kentucky fan without a wildcat tattoo.

My heretical suggestion? Move the fences in or move to another venue.

Of course that will never happen and the powers that be think the new balls with lower seams will solve the problem. I don't buy it, but we'll see.

The other problem is missed calls by the umps. All three times the Cards have been to the CWS there are missed calls. It's just a matter of time until a missed call impacts a key game and sends the wrong team home unjustly.

It's a very simple thing to do: give each coach two chances per game to contest a call and if he is correct he retains his two objections. Balls and strikes cannot be contested. He will be allowed to throw a white towel onto the field to contest a call and the replay person in the booth can watch the replay and determine the correct call. The home plate ump has an earpiece and can easily be told the result.

It will take only seconds and is used in every other major sport.

Unfortunately baseball is bound by tradition and the chances of this happening are zero and nil.

Oh well, maybe I can use my energy to liven up soccer. At least the World Cup has become my world nap. Every time I set down to watch a match I fall asleep. The only team I can watch from beginning to end is Ken Lolla's Cards.